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Tk23.68cr govt land grabbed with fake records
Published : Wednesday, 7 October, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Observer Online Report
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against eight people, including a Public Works Department (PWD) engineer, over alleged embezzlement of 24.96 decimals of government land in Chattogram's Agrabad commercial area through forged records.
The case was filed at the ACC's Chattogram integrated district office on Tuesday (October 6), according to the commission's public relations office. ACC Deputy Director Md Riaz Uddin filed the case against the eight accused.
According to the case statement, a fire broke out at the Patiya Sub-Registry Office on June 27, 1971, during the Liberation War, destroying all government volumes, stock books and records from 1970. The ACC investigation found that the loss of the records was allegedly exploited to create forged documents claiming ownership of 24.96 decimals of government land in the Gosaildanga mouza under Double Mooring Police Station.
The investigation reportedly found evidence that ballpoint pens were used in the purported old documents, although such pens were not commonly used in administrative or official work in 1970.
The land falls under the jurisdiction of the Chattogram Sadar Sub-Registry Office, where the original records were preserved. According to the investigation, the accused allegedly used the distant Patiya Sub-Registry Office to show a fictitious registration to avoid detection.
According to the ACC investigation, the 24.96-decimal plot is owned by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is classified as government-owned abandoned property under the Abandoned Property Ordinance, 1972.
Fatema Begum's family and their business, Messrs Concord Trading, allegedly took possession of the land under an agreement in 2002 but subsequently continued occupying it without renewing the lease or paying the stipulated rent.
Several commercial establishments, including Sunway Medical Centre and Agrabad Convention Hall, were allegedly developed on the prime land in Agrabad, generating substantial rental income over the years.
According to the ACC, the 2025 mouza rate valued the land, excluding the building, at Tk17,12,63,140, while unpaid rent amounted to Tk6,55,76,098. The total value of the land and outstanding rent was calculated at Tk23,68,39,238.
The accused are Mohammad Shah-Alam Faruk, former sub-divisional engineer of the Chattogram PWD and currently executive engineer of Bagerhat PWD; Messrs Concord Trading owner Md Farid Ahmed; his mother Fatema Begum; his brother Mohammad Fahim Ahmed, owner of Agrabad Convention Hall; their sisters Hasina Momtaz, Rokeya Sultana and Shaheen Sultana; and their brother Mohammad Foyez Ahmed.
The accused have been charged under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 109 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
The ACC said its investigation found that the accused allegedly acted in collusion, abused entrusted authority, created forged documents and used them as genuine to occupy the government property and cause financial loss to the state.
- MaT
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Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Advertisement: 41053012; 01793317829, 01550707291, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Online: email: [email protected] 41053014; 01550707297 Advertisement: 01550707296
